446 Game @ Servite (6) (1/2)

"Garret." Coach nodded at the new arrival. He handed over the baseball, putting it in Garret's hands. "You're down in the hole, but don't pay too much attention to that. We'll put some runs on the board in time."

"I'm not properly warmed up, Coach." Garret scrunched up his nose. "Give me some leeway."

Coach nodded, understanding. "If they put a lefty in, I won't hold it against you. But." He looked him in the eyes. "Two runs. That's all I can allow."

Garret nodded, holding the ball tight.

Coach looked around at us infielders. "Keep your heads up. We won't be held down for long."

"Yea!" We echoed.

Coach went back to the dugout and we all stepped off the mound to give Garret his space. The umpire gave him ten pitches with Alex before getting the game to resume. As the four of us circled up behind him, we could see Tanner running to the outfield with his glove. He spoke with Zeke and Mahki before going towards right, pushing Mahki to left field.

"Jake." Noah's voice was clear, reaching and pulling me to the present. "You're not scared are you?"

Scared? I wanted to laugh, but settled for a simple shake of the head. "I'm not scared." I looked on as Garret warmed up. "Do you think he can hold them down?"

"Garret can end this inning." Julian spoke up. He sounded sure of his statement, yet it made the other remaining innings look questionable. "We're only down by three."

"Have we ever been down by three?" Jason asked.

"University Prep." Noah mumbled.

"Correction, first time we played Redwood." Julian pointed out. We were beating them before they took the lead, but guess what? We got them back." Julian patted me on the head. "We have Jake. And Zeke. And the team as a whole. We hold them here and then worry about the comeback, okay?"

"Right." Noah nodded. "Ok, let's do this!"

We went back to our own positions. Although Noah said 'let's', us infielders weren't any help to Garret. He struck out his first opponent all on his own. We clapped for him and our dugout made some noise, but it didn't last.

Batter number eight was replaced with a lefty. Garret's cutter was seen through easily, and put into play over my head. Tanner sprinted in and caught the hit off a bounce, and then threw it directly to Julian at first. The batter was safe for a single though.

As if we were stuck on a downhill slide, batter number nine in their lineup, was Sanchez. He bats right, but it didn't matter because he was still a good player overall. He pulled a single to left field, the ball bouncing before Mahki could get it. Mahki picked the ball up and threw to Noah. Noah turned, yet both Servite players were safe at first and second. Back to back singles.

My jaw clenched, teeth grinding. Why won't this inning end already? It's like we have to go through their whole lineup just to get three outs.

The leadoff batter was replaced with another lefty. I had forgotten how many lefties they had on standby. Noah nodded at me when we made eye contact, signaling for me that he would cover second. I shifted back, heels on the grass, ready for anything to come my way. Left-handed batter's statistically hit this way, so this was the best we could come up with to try and get an out.

Pointless. He was able to lift the ball and shot it above my glove, even with me jumping. The only saving grace was that the hit went to center field. So even though it bounced in the grass, Zeke was able to return the ball with speed, keeping it to a single and keeping the runners from scoring. The bad news is...the bases are loaded.

The Servite fans cheered on their team, surrounding us with discouraging words. I gulped.

"Stay steady!" Noah yelled out, raising his voice to be heard.